The travel industry involves a large number of different suppliers and travel products covering different aspects of a travel itinerary, for example, including flights, transfers, accommodation, hire vehicles, tours, meal vouchers, tickets for attractions etc. and involving a plurality of different booking systems. Travel plans are often facilitated by travel agents who will coordinate travellers' itinerary and bookings, often by manually accessing a variety of different booking systems. The travel agent will typically also facilitate travel payments, for example by receiving pre-payment invoices or quotes from the various suppliers, and billing these to the traveller in a consolidated invoice. Then, once the consolidated invoice is paid, the travel agent distributes appropriate payments to the individual suppliers. This often requires significant manual reconciliation and processing.
Recent developments in internet based travel booking systems have enabled travellers (individuals and corporations) to more easily plan and book their own travel, online. Such travel booking systems typically require payment up front using a credit card. But some aspects of travel costs are typically post-paid, such as payment of hotel accommodation at the conclusion of a stay, meals and incidental costs. A significant part of the cost overheads for corporate travel is associated with reconciliation of travel expenses incurred on a central billing account (whether it's a corporate credit card or other more sophisticated but similar solutions).
There is a need for improvements in systems for facilitating payments for different aspects of travel.